


The Best Present Ever

by beedridden



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Parents, Alternate Universe - Single Parent, Gen, Single Parents
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-04
Updated: 2018-01-06
Packaged: 2019-02-10 15:14:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12914562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beedridden/pseuds/beedridden
Summary: Being a single parent is not an easy task. Oikawa was not ready to raise his little boy alone and he soon realized hoe hard it can be to deal with a six-year-old . However, when Oikawa looks past all the struggles he has to go through, he finds himself feeling blessed to being able to see his son grow up. But it takes some time to notice that the little and happy things are just as important as the big and bad ones.





	1. Prologue

It was two in the morning when Oikawa’s girlfriend had the courage to tell him the news. She woke him up in the middle of the night and said words, he was never ever going to forget.

“Honey, I’m pregnant.”

He couldn’t see the look on her face due to the darkness of that beautiful night, but the male knew she was nervous and agitated. Yoshida kept rambling about how she wouldn’t be mad if he didn’t want to take that huge of a responsibility, of having a child at the age of twenty-five, and that she didn’t mind taking care of the baby on her own. She just wanted him to at least help her monetarily, since it was both of their faults, that she had ended up pregnant. 

What the woman didn’t notice, was the smile, that had overtaken Oikawa’s face. It was one of the widest and most radiant smiles he had ever shown to anyone. The young male was so happy. 

He hushed her with a butterfly kiss to her lips and wrapped his arms, assuring her that they would go through all of this together and that he would always be there to support her.

“I’ll love the baby as much as I love you,” He affirmed, caressing his girlfriend’s belly and wondering how his child would look like.

The following nine months were rough. Yoshida felt really weak most of the time, throwing up and having headaches almost every day. Her doctor said everything was fine with the baby, nevertheless she couldn’t help but think there was something wrong with how she felt all so ill the time. 

Oikawa was by her side the whole time, even when she cried that one day she realized, she wouldn’t be able to get a degree in architecture, because she couldn’t even go to classes anymore. He told the girl, that she could do it after the baby was born and, while she was studying, he would take care of the baby and work so he could support them.

Finally, there they were, waiting her to give birth. Yoshida was screaming, feeling like her insides were being ripped apart. Her boyfriend gently caressed her ginger hair and wiped the sweat off her forehead, while whispering sweet, encouraging words to her.

“I can’t take it, Tōru! This is too much!” She shouted, pushing as hard she could.

He kissed her hand, the one that was basically crushing his own, and reassured her, “You can do it, believe me. Just push a little bit more, Haruka, just a little bit more.”

Around twenty minutes later, they heard a loud, high pitched cry. Yoshida stopped pushing and crushing her boyfriend’s hand and relaxed, sighing deeply as she tried to catch her breath. 

Oikawa started to weep even though he hadn’t see the baby yet. He already knew that it was going to be a boy and they both had decided what was going to be his name, but the man was still excited as well a little scared. He just wanted to check if everything was okay with his son.

“It’s a beautiful baby boy that you have here,” Said the nurse while placing the child on top it's mother’s chest so he could smell her.

“He is indeed beautiful,” Yoshida said, letting small tears roll down her cheeks and holding the baby tightly against her.

Oikawa wiped the tears off his face with the back of his hand and placed one arm around the woman’s shoulder, making her cuddle against his body. He kissed the top of her head and looked at the baby as the little one searched for something to suck on. When he finally found his mother’s finger, the baby sucked on it and calmed down a little.

“So, will Shōyō be his name?” Yoshida asked her boyfriend, not taking her eyes off her son for a second.

“Yes, Shōyō it is.”

And later, when he carried his son in his arms and rocked him slightly so he wouldn’t cry, Oikawa knew that he loved this perfect, little being; he loved Shōyō more than anyone in this world and would protect him no matter what.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! This story was written for the HQBB 2017 event. During the event I worked with the beta [sound-of-inspiration](http://sound-of-inspiration.tumblr.com/) and the artist [itsmyfridge](http://itsmyfridge.tumblr.com/) .
> 
> It was a lot of fun working with them. I know I'm hard to deal with and I can be irresponsible at times, so I just want to thank them for bearing with me.
> 
> I hope you enjoy reading my story!


	2. Chapter 1

Waking up on working days was always hard for Oikawa. Not because he was lazy and didn’t want to go to work, but because he had only gotten into bed around midnight, falling asleep half an hour later and already had to get up again at 5:30am. He never was able to catch a lot of sleep these days and it was starting to show on his face. With only thirty one years old, the male had noticeable bags under his eyes and small wrinkles were starting to show around his eyes. 

However, the man knew he had to get up to prepare everything for his and his son’s morning.

Oikawa eventually got up, rubbing his tired eyes. After opening up the curtains of his bedroom, he made his way to the bathroom to take care of his hygiene. It only took him about twenty minutes, but the man felt like he was already pretty late. Afterwards, he got dressed in one of his white button-up shirts and grey trousers and went to the kitchen to prepare the breakfast.

“Finally,” He mumbled to himself when he placed everything on top of the table so they could eat.

Taking large steps, Oikawa went to his son’s bedroom to find the little boy still snoring away loudly. The covers were at the end of the bed (he probably had kicked them off in his sleep) and his hand had pulled up his pajama shirt, leaving his cute belly uncovered. It was really hard to wake up his son for he just wanted to spend his whole day admiring the little one, but the male knew he had to do it.

“Hey, Shōyō, wake up.” Oikawa crouched down next to the bed and ruffled the little boy’s ginger hair. His curls were exactly like his father’s, except for the color which he got from his mother.

When the toddler began to move and open his eyes, the man kissed his forehead and smiled, standing up. 

“It’s time to get up. C’mon, breakfast is ready.”

He opened the blinds and saw his son shutting his eyes due to the sudden light. Now that he could see clearly inside the bedroom, he looked around, rolling his eyes. The kid’s room wasn’t really big, but it was the perfect size. Three of the walls were white, but Shōyō had insisted that one of them had to be red, so the wall where his closet was, was painted with a flashy tone of the color of blood. In the bedroom, there was a bed too big for a six year old kid since Oikawa and Yoshida had decided back then to buy it big enough, so the kid could sleep in it until he’d leave the house. And there was also a small desk with a fake computer and lots of toys. However, the toys weren’t where they should be, they were on the floor and even on his bed and one of the white walls was now also blue, yellow, red, green and purple thanks to the toddler’s idea of drawing on the wall. 

Oikawa sighed, shook his head and asked his son to get up once again, leaving the bedroom and going to the kitchen.

A few moments later, a small body entered the kitchen, still rubbing his eyes with his small fist.

“Please, Shō-chan, hurry up,” The dad pleaded, picking up his son and sitting him onto a chair.

The two of them started to eat silently. Oikawa checked his emails on his phone while he ate his omelet and drank his coffee. Shōyō opened and closed his mouth every few seconds to place the spoon full of milk and cereals in his mouth.

As soon as the kid finished eating, he left the kitchen without saying a word and went to the bathroom to brush his teeth. Although he was sleepy and had his eyes almost closed, he had already memorized his routine, so he knew everything he had to do in the morning.

“Daddy!” The little boy suddenly shouted, making Oikawa get up from his chair and walk towards his son.

When he arrived at the bathroom, he saw his son on top of a little bench with a hairbrush in one hand and a tube of hair gel on the other. Oikawa started to brush Shōyō’s hair to soften his wild curls. Albeit they were like Oikawa's, the toddler’s hair was much more thick and wilder than his father’s. Therefore, it took the dad some time to brush it and style it the way his son wanted it to be.

“No!” Shōyō put his hand in the air to catch his father’s attention. “I want it more spiky! Like WHAH!”

“You don’t say ‘more spiky’. You say ‘spikier’.”

“Spikier!”

The man shook his head and chuckled, using the hair gel to give his son’s hair more of a ‘whah’ look. Then, it was Oikawa who brushed his hair, using his own hand to make the brown curls look more presentable.   
“Your hair should be more KAPOW, like mine,” The ginger said, while walking out of the bathroom and walking towards his bedroom.

“Yes, maybe one day, Shō -chan.” He smiled while looking at himself in the mirror once again to check if he was alright. “Now, get dressed while Daddy puts his contacts in.”

Putting contacts in was getting really tiring so most of the time Oikawa just went out for work with glasses on. But there were some days when he felt like using contacts because, in his opinion, it made him look younger and hotter.

After having done that, the male quickly walked to his son’s bedroom to prepare his schoolbag. Thankfully, the child was only in his first year of elementary school so the bag wasn’t too hard to prepare. Oikawa knew that he should make his son prepare his own bag since most Japanese kids of his age were doing it, but he couldn’t bring himself to ask his son to prepare everything on his own yet.

After finishing, he looked at Shōyō and almost had a heart attack. The night before he had placed some clothes on top of the kid’s desk so in the morning he would wear them. But the toddler was wearing something completely different and ridiculous: blue and white swimming shorts and a red shirt.

Taking a deep breath, Oikawa tried to calm himself down before saying, “Shōyō, please wear what I put on top of your desk.”

“But I want to go swimming.” He pouted, hoping to convince his father.

The father had already seen those puppy eyes a lot of times, though, so they didn’t have much effect on him anymore. “It’s fall right now, no one is going to swim. Get dressed and when I come back I better see you all ready.”

Oikawa turned his back toward his son and walked out of the bedroom, sighing. He was growing quite tired of this. He loved his son, really, but it was just too hard to take care of a six year old child all by himself. And he really hated to yell or to scold his son, but sometimes he needed to be a little stricter, otherwise Shōyō would take advantage of the situation and do what he wanted.

A few minutes later, the man had everything prepared: his bag was ready, the kitchen was all tidied up, as well as the bathroom, Shōyō’s bag was prepared too. The only thing left was for the kid to be dressed.  
“Are you ready?” He asked from the living room.

“Yes!” Following the answer, the little kid came out of the bedroom, holding a brown jacket in one hand.

“Great. Now let’s go.” The man grabbed his briefcase and his son’s small backpack, along with his coat. With his free hand, he held Shōyō’s hand, who followed him out of their apartment.

-:-:-

“Really?” Oikawa widened his eyes, faking surprise. “I can’t believe it!” 

“It’s true, daddy!” Shōyō let out a cute and loud chuckle. “I really have a crush!”

Although his son was adorable, the man had to turn his body to the front again because the light was already green and he couldn’t drive while his whole body was facing the toddler. He looked at the kid through the mirror and grinned instantly when seeing his cheeks becoming red.

“I never thought my baby would have a crush. You’re a grown up now, aren’t you?”

“I’m not a baby and yes, I’m now in the big kids’ school, so I’m almost an adult.” Shōyō puffed his chest out with a proud look on his face.

“Now, tell me more about this girl.” Oikawa knew that they were already getting to their destination and sighed since he wanted to spend a little more time talking with his son.

The ginger furrowed his eyebrows and pursed his lips, shaking his head. “It’s not a girl.”

“Oh, is this person a boy then?” When the kid nodded, the dad looked at him through the mirror with soft eyes. “OK, then tell me about the boy.”

“His name is Kageyama Tobio. He’s taller than me and is a little mean, but yesterday he gave me a veggie that was in his bento and I was really happy!”

“He must be a nice kid.”

“I don’t know.” Shōyō played with his fingers, thinking seriously about what his father had said. “Sometimes he plays with me, but other times he yells at me.”

“I’m sure he doesn’t mean to be mean.” Oikawa stopped the car and opened his door, getting out of the car so he could help the ginger get out too. As soon as they were both on their feet, the toddler grabbed his backpack and put it over his shoulders.

“Goodbye, daddy.” Shōyō smiled and placed himself on tip toes, while his dad lowered himself so the kid could kiss his cheek.

“Have fun at school!” He shouted as the little boy ran towards a group of children.

Sighing for the nth time that day, the man entered his car once again and made his way to the university where he worked as a researcher. Thankfully, he wasn’t going to be late (unless there was traffic, but he decided to not even think about that possibility).


	3. Chapter 2

Since he had been a little kid, Oikawa had been in love with two things: volleyball and astronomy. There was no way the man would be able to earn money with volleyball (unless he was a coach, but that was something he wanted to do when he retired), so he decided to go with astronomy.

The brunet really loved astronomy and astrophysics, being in love with anything that involved the outer space. It was just something he loved to learn about. For that reason, he studied it and now had a degree in astrophysics, working for a university as a researcher. It was a tough job, because everyone was really strict, but it was easy to make friends there and, hopefully, in a few years, Oikawa would be able to become a university teacher.

The only downside of his work was that, most of the time, he had to stay there and finish his work, before he could leave for the day. Usually he was able to finish everything by four o’clock, but there were times when he couldn’t, which meant he was going to be late when picking up his son.

Shōyō’s classes were over by three o’clock and even on days with club activities he would finish school by four o’clock. Every single day, without an exception, the ginger would wait for at least an hour for his dad to pick him up. There were some other kids, who would wait for their relatives to pick them up so he was never alone, but the kid found it really boring to wait for his dad.

That day was no exception. Oikawa ran out of the building with his briefcase in hand and coat thrown over his arm, saying goodbye to everyone he knew along the way. When he arrived at his car, the man threw everything inside and started the engine, trying to be as quick as possible. He thanked God for having a car, otherwise he would have to use the train and it would be even worse.

Twenty minutes later, he stopped the car in front of the elementary school his son attended. Shōyō said goodbye to his friends and ran towards the car, with an angry look on his face. He got in and climbed on top of the booster car seat.

“Do you need help?” Asked the father, pursing his lips as he saw a band aid on the kid’s hand.

“No,” The kid answered, with his eyebrows still furrowed.

Just when Oikawa was ready to ask why the kid had a band aid on, a slim woman with glasses ran in the direction of his car, and the man recognized her as his son’s teacher.

He lowered the window and smiled politely, “Good afternoon.”

“Good afternoon, Oikawa-san.” She returned the smile. “I’d like to talk to you about Shōyō-kun.”

The brunet glanced at his son, who was looking down at his fingers, and raised an eyebrow. That had never happened before.

“You see, today, Shōyō-kun got into a fight.” Oikawa widened his eyes, completely taken back by surprise. “We don’t really know why they were fighting, because neither of them is willing to say it. They just insist that the other started it.” Her thin lips were in a straight line as she talked, showing just how serious the matter was. “I’m not saying it’s Shōyō-kun’s fault or the other kid’s, but I want you to understand that they both were wrong so I’d like you to have a talk with your son. We don’t tolerate this kind of behavior and we are afraid they might repeat it, so please talk to him.”

Seeing the teacher’s eyes full of honest concern, the male bit his lip and nodded. “I will. Thank you for telling me.”

“It’s our duty.” The woman forced a polite smile, taking one step back and waving at the father and son. “Have a safe trip.”

Oikawa started to drive toward their apartment. The whole trip home was silent, not even the radio was turned on. The father was just too disappointed to speak, so he decided to do it once they got home. If he started to talk, he would just end up yelling and, in that moment, he needed to concentrate on driving.

How could Shōyō do that kind of thing knowing full well how much his father struggled to take care of him by himself? The brunet knew he was just a kid, but even so he felt betrayed.

Shōyō himself didn’t feel any better. He knew his dad was mad, because he didn’t ask him about his day. The man was always really talkative and nice when he picked up his son from school, but today he didn’t say a single word. It was scaring the little kid, who didn’t dare to look up, so instead he played with the band aid on his palm, taking it off and then putting it back on.

When they arrived home, Oikawa turned off the engine and reached for his coat and briefcase. Then, he got out of the car and opened the door of the backseat, helping his son to get out as well. He held his son’s hand until they reached their apartment, where he let go of the kid’s hand and opened the door with his keys, letting Shōyō get in first.

The toddler placed his bag near the sofa in the living room and ran to his bedroom, closing the door behind him. He was, in fact, scared of what was coming so he decided to hide in his bedroom. The ginger just laid down on his bed, waiting for his dad to enter the room and start yelling at him.

In the living room, all that could be heard was a loud and long sigh. Oikawa placed his things on the sofa and sat there, staring at the black screen of the TV. Where had he went wrong?

After a few moments of thinking about how to approach the matter, the man finally felt comfortable enough to talk with his son. Right when he entered the bedroom, the kid pressed his back against the headboard and looked at his father with wide, glossy eyes.

“Here’s the thing, Shōyō,” The man started, taking a seat on the bed a few inches away from the ginger. He locked his fingers together and stared at his feet. “I know you probably didn’t mean any harm when you fought with the other kid but you can’t do that. I think your mother and I always taught you, that you should never use violence.”

“But daddy…” His lower lip was trembling, and they both knew he was going to cry soon.

Oikawa kept a straight face, though. “Let me finish.” The toddler tried to hold in the tears as his father looked him in thee yes. “You have to understand that you shouldn’t fight with anyone. I don’t care what the other kid did to you, I only care about how you dealt with it, and it wasn’t the right way.”

“Daddy, he said-“

“I don’t care!” The brunet raised his voice momentarily and Shōyō widened his eyes, letting out a sob and feeling a lonely tear roll down his cheek. “I spend my whole day running around to take care of you, so you should at least keep quiet when I talk to you! I try my hardest to satisfy you and I even try to bring some of my work home, so I can pick you up as soon as possible! I work my ass off to earn money so you can have everything you want and how do you repay me?! Fighting at school! I better not hear that you fought at school anymore, are we clear?!”

The child’s lower lip quivered and his face was red. A few wet patches could be seen on the mattress hanks to the tears he had shed and he fought the urge to let out another sob. The ginger was a total mess. Only then Oikawa realized he was talking to a kid, a little human who still didn’t think about his actions.

“I’m sorry,” He mumbled, taking a good look at his son. With all those screams the father didn’t realize his son had his knees scraped and a little bruise on his arm. “Let’s take care of those injuries, okay?”

Still fearing his father’s reaction, Shōyō just nodded and followed his dad into the bathroom, not saying a word. He feared what was going to happen if he pronounced just another word and decided to not make a sound. However, he still thought that explaining why he did what he had done was the best option.

“Daddy.” Oikawa hummed and the kid continued. “It was not my fault, he-“

“Seriously, I don’t want to hear it. Whatever you say won’t be an excuse for your behavior,” The brunet grabbed the first aid kit and proceeded to take care of his son’s injuries.

And so, the little child with wild curls and fierce brown eyes didn’t have the chance to tell his father about how the other kid had ripped his drawing of him and his father holding hands in the park, where he loved to play with Oikawa.


	4. Chapter 3

A new day meant more time rushing and running around.

That day, Oikawa felt like he didn’t even do his job correctly. He was in such a rush to get his work done, that he felt incompetent. Thus he grabbed some paper sheets full of calculations and notes written in an incomprehensive way and stuffed them in his briefcase, promising himself to do his work correctly after dinner, when his son would be too tired to distract him.

The man rubbed his temples and sighed, while getting up and grabbing his stuff. He was really tired. His eyes were red and he struggled to keep them open. His mouth was dry due to dehydration, he was hungry and his legs ached. His back felt like someone had been punching it all day long and he knew that, when he would look into a mirror, he would find a different man from his high school days.

In high school, Oikawa was really cheerful and always kept a wide smile on his face. His skin was almost perfect, with just a pimple here and there. His brown eyes were always glowing and his brown curls were well taken care of. His lips were charming thanks to their redness and his physique was quite good as well, for he exercised regularly and ate healthily. That Oikawa Tōru was amazing and had time and the energy to do everything he wanted, being it flirt with some girls or annoy his best friend.

Now, Oikawa Tōru didn’t have time to do anything of that and he wasn’t even sure that, if he’d flirt with some women, they would flirt back. Every morning, when he looked at himself in the mirror, he didn’t know how to feel. Most of the time, his eyes were red and huge dark circles surrounded them. His lips were chapped since he didn’t have time to take care of them and his skin was growing old, with new wrinkles showing up every day. His hair was probably the only thing that still was okay, but obviously not as good as before. The man didn’t exercise enough and would skip meals or just eat a small amount of food, making his body weak and his skin tone very pale. He was in a horrible state, in his eyes.

The brunet never knew what to think about this change in his appearance. He was disappointed in himself for not being able to take care of himself. He was sad, angry and insecure. However, every time he thought of the reason he was like that, he’d smile just a little bit. He was doing all of it for his precious son, who was a beautiful and healthy kid full of energy. Shōyō was his ball of sunshine.

But he couldn’t stop wondering if he was doing a good or bad job at parenting.

-:-:-

“Hello, Shō-chan!” The brunet smiled widely at the moment his son opened the car’s door.

“Hello,” The kid answered, not looking at his father’s face.

Oikawa knew why the toddler was acting that way. He was still sad about what had happened the day before.

“Do you want to talk about your day?” The father tried to make light conversation, raising his eyebrows and starting the engine.

Despite his try, Shōyō shook his head and glanced out of the window.

It was going to be another silent ride home.

They got home in less than fifteen minutes for there wasn’t any traffic and the only times they stopped were when there were red lights. They both got out of the car, each one of them carrying their stuff. Then they walked to their apartment.

The child had refused to hold his father’s hand, so the man just walked behind him to be sure nothing happened to him.

Just before they entered the apartment, Shōyō said, “I want to eat cookies.”

“You can’t, I’m going to start making dinner soon,” Oikawa answered, taking his keys out to open the door.

“But I want to eat them.” He kicked the air, crossing his arms over his chest.

“I said you can’t.” Oikawa opened the door.

“But I want to!” The child shouted, attracting some glances from curious people that were passing by.

The father widened his eyes in alarm and used his deep voice, which he knew frightened his kid, to say, “Don’t scream at me.”

Shōyō ignored his father and started to cry and sob loudly, while yelling repeatedly, “I want to! I want to!”

Oikawa tried to calm himself down so he wouldn’t scream at the toddler. Nevertheless he grabbed the kid’s arm and dragged him inside the apartment, closing the door with a loud thud. The ginger was still crying, claiming that now his arm hurt.

“Listen to me!” The male said in a stern voice and the kid stared at him with wide and scared eyes. “You’re not going to eat any cookies, am I clear? And stop throwing a tantrum, it won’t get you anywhere!” When he saw that the kid wasn’t answering him, he carried on with a strict tone. “And because of this whole show, the week without playing video games has turned to two weeks!”

“You can’t-“

“I can’t what? Do you want it to be three?”

The kid turned around and ran to his bedroom, yelling, “I hate you!”

It felt like someone had stabbed his chest until they got tired. Although he knew his son didn’t mean what he was saying, Oikawa couldn’t help but feel really hurt. These were the moments, when he doubted himself and his parenting skills.

It wasn’t until dinner time, that the two of them were in the same room again. Each of them spent their time in separate rooms but they had to eat dinner together in the kitchen.

“I know you don’t like when I punish you or scold you, but I don’t like to do it either.” Oikawa glanced at his kid, who was playing with his food using his fork. “Don’t play with food, just eat.”

“I don’t want to,” He mumbled. Then he looked up into his father’s eyes and said with a sad and broken voice, “I’m sorry, Daddy.”

“It’s okay,” The brunet answered. But that didn’t seem enough to reassure Shōyō, who started to cry. Oikawa got up and got on his knees next to his son, placing his hands on top of the ginger’s knees. “Hey, it’s okay, daddy forgives you.”

“I-I’m sorry. I don’t ha-hate you,” He stuttered, wiping the tears of his cheeks with his little fist.

“I know, buddy.”

“Do you hate me?”

Seeing his son’s eyes broke the dad’s heart. They were so sad, like Shōyō really doubted his love. No matter what happened, he would never hate his son.

“God, no! Of course not! What are you talking about?” The man picked his son up and held him in his arms, facing him.

“You scold me every day.” The kid wiped the tears and sobbed. “It means you don’t like me.”

The brunet shook his head. “That’s not true. I love so very much. I only yell at you, because I care about you.” Shōyō hugged his neck and sniffed. “Was that why you were being mean to daddy?”

“Yes.” Looking at the kid’s pout, Oikawa couldn’t help but smile. He was just so cute. Although his hair color and eyes reminded him of Shōyō’s mother, he had to admit that it made him seriously adorable. “I thought you didn’t like me, so I didn’t like you too. I was mean because I didn’t like you.”

The room was filled with laughter. Kids were so simple-minded yet charming and captivating. It was good to hear his son’s explanation because it made him feel relieved.

“Now that everything’s okay, let’s finish our dinner.” Oikawa put the kid down and sat back onto his chair. “Oh, but this doesn’t mean your punishment is over. You still can’t play video games for two weeks.”

“Daddyyyyyyyy!”


	5. Chapter 4

After Shōyō had been born, Yoshida’s and Oikawa’s lives were amazing. They were extremely happy and felt like they could do anything together. They married a few months after she gave birth to him, because they didn’t want to have a kid and not be married.

The first year was probably the worst, with the baby growing a lot every week and crying every few hours. Since Oikawa was done with his studies, he would be the one to take care of their child so Yoshida could sleep and be ready to go to classes in the morning. However, the woman always found herself feeling pretty tired.

The second and third year were pretty normal since they got used to all that parenting thing. Did they doubt themselves? Every day, but they always comforted each other, so it was okay.

Now, the fourth year was when everything started to crumble. The couple fought regularly and doubted their love for each other. The truth was that, maybe, they started their life together too soon, without being able to meet other people, and now they were regretting their decisions, feeling like they weren’t meant to be together.

For Shōyō, who was still a little kid, it was confusing to see his parents close their bedroom door and then hear muffled screams and yells. He didn’t know because he was always distracted, but his parents were having a fight.

Yoshida proposed that they split up and that was what they did. They divorced and went to court to decide the custody of their son. Thanks to the woman’s work, which made her sometimes go to other countries in the middle of the week, Oikawa would live with Shōyō, except on weekends, when the boy would go to his mother’s house.

At the beginning, it was okay. Oikawa could handle everything alone and he even had a break on weekends. But as times went on and his son started to grow up, things got worse. The father didn’t know how to act. It was confusing and he found himself calling his ex-wife, sister and mother to ask what he should do. They always helped him and he was grateful. He didn’t have time for himself because he had to work and take care of the kid, which left little to no time to leisure.

Thankfully, it was Friday and the worst was already done. It was just before dinner time and all Oikawa had to do was drive his kid to Yoshida’s house and then he was free to do whatever he wanted.  
“Please don’t let him play video games,” The brunet pleaded when he saw his son entering his ex-wife’s house.

“Why?” She asked, tilting her head to the side and letting Oikawa see what was going on inside the house. Shōyō was chatting with Yoshida’s boyfriend, Asamushi, who was an attractive young man. He didn’t know how she had the time to date.

When the man looked in his direction and smiled, Oikawa waved and smiled back. “Because I grounded him. This past week he has been really naughty and I had to do something.”

“Okay, I won’t let him play video games.” She smiled, nodding. “But have you talked to him? About why he’s acting the way he is?”

Oikawa rolled his eyes and answered, “Of course. What kind of parent do you think I am?”

“The kind that’s too busy with work and too tired to even try to listen to his own child.” Damn, she knew him so well.

“Well, I did talk to him, so now we’re okay, but that doesn’t mean he can do whatever he wants without being punished.”

“That’s true. But don’t worry.” Yoshida looked at the male and showed a sympathetic expression. With just a look she could tell how exhausted he was. “If you don’t have anything more to tell me, go and enjoy your weekend. Go to a spa, take a long bath, sleep for twelve hours, I don’t care. Just rest a little, okay?”

“Yes, I’ll do it. Thank you, Haruka” Oikawa smiled too and winked.

Yoshida could still remember why she had fallen in love with him. Even now that he was thirty one years old, she could tell he was charismatic. He didn’t look like six or seven years ago, but he was still very attractive. Anyone would fall for his looks and, after getting to know him, for his personality since he was really nice and caring.

“No problem. Have a nice weekend.”

“You too. Say bye to Shōyō for me and that I love him.”

With that, the man turned his back and walked to his car. He knew he was going to feel really lonely during the whole weekend. It was always like that: he would spend working days sighing and asking to have one or two more hours of sleep and when the weekend came, he would ask for his son back, because the only thing he was able to do was the work he hadn’t finished yet.

That day he decided to go to his friend’s house. Iwaizumi had been his friend since they could remember and he was always there when Oikawa needed him.

After some minutes of driving while listening to the news on the radio, the brunet finally arrived at his friend’s apartment. He knocked on the door and waited.

“Hello.” Iwaizumi smiled a little as soon as he opened the door and saw that it was his childhood friend. They hadn’t talked in so long.

“Excuse me,” Mumbled Oikawa while entering the house, not needing the other man’s permission.

The dark-haired male just shook his head and closed the door. “You should have told me you were coming.”

“Why? It’s not like you were going to have a girl over anyway.” The brunet smirked, taking a seat on the couch.

“I could have a girl over if I wanted.” Iwaizumi crossed his arms over his chest and took a seat on the couch as well.

“Wow!” Oikawa exclaimed, touching the other man’s biceps. “You’re muscles are as big as ever. Do you still exercise?”

“Obviously. I have to if I want to be healthy.” He grabbed the remote and changed the channel, looking at his friend every few seconds. “You should too; you look awful.”

Iwaizumi expected Oikawa to fake surprise and to pretend he was offended. He was almost sure his friend would put his hand over his chest and blink three times, as if he was taken back by the affirmation. Even though the dark-haired male knew the brunet for years, his predictions weren’t right. Oikawa simply sighed and leaned back, staring at the screen but not really watching what was on. He shrugged and smiled sadly. His smile didn’t reach his eyes, which weren’t the beautiful and shiny brown they used to be, they had lost color. The man ran his hand through his hair, which had already one or two white hairs, and adjusted his glasses.

“Well, it’s not like I have the time to exercise, do I?”

Oikawa was certainly different. He was aging significantly and was becoming a completely different man from the carefree and cheerful young male he had been years ago. Iwaizumi couldn’t be prouder of who his friend had become: a hard-working man, who gave up his love for volleyball so he could raise his son.

“I think you should get some help,” Iwaizumi proposed.

“It’s true that I’m not poor, but I can’t just waste my money on a babysitter.”

“No, not like that.” He shook his head and turned off the TV so they could chat peacefully. “You should get a partner, someone that could help you financially and that could take care of Shōyō, when you can’t do it. Someone like Yoshida-chan. Her boyfriend helps her take care of your kid, doesn’t he?”

Oikawa rolled his eyes, like what his friend was saying was the most stupid thing in the world. “It’s not that easy. It’s not like I’m going to fall in love again that quickly. And how do I know that the person I like likes me back and wants to help take care of my son?”

“You think too much. God, you’re really old. When was the last time you’ve even had sex?”

“I don’t know. A while back, I guess.”

“C’mon, man! If you don’t relax a bit you’re going to die soon and who’ll take care of our little Shō-chan?”

And thus Oikawa spent his weekend just relaxing. He tried to loosen up and to have fun. He had a one night stand and didn’t worry about it, nor did he think about his work. It felt great to relax once in awhile.


	6. Chapter 5

“Everything was okay, I guess,” Yoshida commented, helping Oikawa to pack their son’s stuff. “We had fun. Oh, and I talked to Shōyō about you and him having a lot of fights lately and I believe he really is sorry. I mean, he almost started to cry when we talked about it. He doesn’t hate you, don’t worry.”

“I know that, he said it himself.” The man zipped the backpack close and put it over his shoulder. “It’s just, that I thought he was saying these things when deep down he felt some kind of hatred towards me.”

The ginger rolled her eyes and looked at the man with a ‘are you kidding me?’ look. “He’s a kid, Tōru, he doesn’t hate anything. I mean it, when I say, that you’re doing a great job. Our son is turning out to be such a great young boy and I have to admit it, that it’s mostly due to your doing.”

Oikawa smiled because of his ex-wife’s kindness. She was friendly since the day they’d met, and that was one of the reasons he fell in love with her. But it was one of the reasons he fell out of love too, for the man sometimes thought she was flirting with other people when she simply had a big heart.

“Thank you.” He turned around to find his son running away from Asamushi while laughing hysterically. He was kind of jealous, but happy that Shōyō was having fun. “Shō-chan, I think it’s time we leave. It’s almost time for dinner, you know?”

“Can’t I stay a little longer?” The kid pouted and stopped running. “Asamushi-kun said he’d show me some cool card tricks.”

“I’m sorry, but we have to go.”

“Then I’ll show them to you next time,” The younger man proposed, glancing at Oikawa to make sure everything was okay. When he nodded, Asamushi continued, “How about that?”

“Okay!” The child grinned and walked up to his father, grabbing his hand.

“Say goodbye to mom and Asamushi-san,” Oikawa said, waving at them so his son would mimic him.

And he did, saying, “Bye bye, mommy. Bye bye, Asa-kun.”

Then they left the house, closing the door behind them and making their way toward the car. Once they got in, each of them put the seat belt on.

“So, tell me how your weekend was,” The father asked, turning the engine on and starting to drive.

“Can you put other music on?” Oikawa changed the radio station and waited for his son’s answer. “It was amazing!”

“That’s great! What did you do?” He asked, already knowing after chatting with his ex-wife. But it was his job as a father to ask about those kind of things.

“On Friday we had dinner in a restaurant. The food was really, really good. I ate a loooot!” Shōyō giggled, when he remember how it was there. “Mommy said I couldn’t eat ice cream, but I really wanted one, so Asa-kun bought me a popsicle when we were going back home.”

“And what did you do on Saturday?”

The kid stopped talking so he could remember. He furrowed his eyebrows but suddenly remembered, widening his eyes and telling his story in an excited voice. “We went to an amusement park together! It was so cool. We even went to a haunted house!” The ginger shivered and rubbed his arms with his hands. “Mommy held my hand and said that it was fine, but I said I wasn’t scared and that I would protect her from the ghosts. Don’t tell mommy, but I almost screamed because it was really scary. But don’t tell mommy, she can’t know because she thinks I’ll always protect her. And I will, but sometimes I can be scared, right?”

“Yes, you can. It’s okay to be scared.” The brunet laughed quietly to himself. “Was that all you did?”

“I guess.” He shrugged. “Today we didn’t go anywhere so I wanted to play video games. But mommy didn’t let me. She said I was grounded. Why did you tell mommy I was grounded?”

Oikawa took a turn to the left and rolled his eyes. “Because mommy needs to know.”

“Okay. Oh, and we ate donuts today. Asa-kun made them!”

“Asamushi-san is a really good cook, isn’t he?”

The man could swear his son’s eyes were shining. “He is! I wanted to save one donut for you, but I ate them all. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

It was good to know that even when they were far apart, his son thought of him. However, hearing Shōyō talk about how much fun he had was making the man a little jealous. He was a grown up, so he shouldn’t get jealous about something as simple as his son having fun with someone else. But he was used to do everything with the ginger and hearing him talk about his weekend made him remember ,that the kid had more friends and knew more people, that could entertain him, not just his father. One day, Shōyō was going to live somewhere else with someone else and that made the father fairly jealous.

“But you know? I missed you, daddy. I wished that you were having fun with us.” The toddler looked at his father’s eyes through the mirror and showed a genuine smile, that reached his eyes.

Seeing his adorable son smile like that and saying those words, made all the jealousy go away. After all, the time when Shōyō was going to be independent was still far away, so Oikawa wasn’t going to worry about it now. Rather, he decided he was going to enjoy the many years with his son, that were still about to come.


	7. Chapter 6

After telling his son to wait for him and be a good boy while he would talk to the teacher, Oikawa took large steps in the direction of Shōyō’s classroom. It was the day of the parent-teacher conference and the man was really stressed out, once again. They couldn’t have had chosen a worse day to hold the conference: he hadn’t been able to finish his work so he wouldn’t be late and was going to have to finish it at home. Plus, it was raining.

When he was younger, the brunet loved rainy days because they were peaceful. But know he disliked them, because rainy days were also messy days. That day, he had an umbrella with him, but it didn’t protect his whole body obviously. Therefore, the bottom of his pants were all wet from the splashing he made when walking. And his hair had gotten damp, which he hated.

“Excuse me,” The man said, entering the classroom, where the teacher was waiting for him. He wasn’t late, the woman had been there earlier.

“Good evening, Oikawa-san.” She grinned widely, showing off her white teeth. They reminded him of the toothpaste commercials.

“Good evening.” He could never remember the woman’s name and she didn’t seem to mind.

“How are you?” Oikawa took a seat in front of her and rested his hands in his lap.

“I’m fine, thank you. How are you?” He asked, knowing that she wanted to make him as comfortable as possible, although it wasn’t really working because he could feel the bottom of his pants wetting his socks and his hair getting frizzy. It definitely wasn’t a good day.

“I’m fine as well, thank you.” The woman kept smiling, as if everything was fine. But they both knew it wasn’t, there were always small problems interfering with their lives; that’s just how adult life goes. “Then let’s talk about Shōyō-kun.”

As the minutes passed by, the woman kept talking about how his son was at school. It wasn’t anything out of the ordinary, besides that one time, his behavior wasn’t that bad. Oikawa tried to pay as much attention as he could, but it wasn’t easy when the woman’s voice was soothing and he could feel the exhaustion creeping up. So there were times when his mind would drift away and he’d start to think about what he was going to make for dinner and if his son wasn’t playing in the rain.

There was a high possibility that the toddler was running in the rain while playing with his friends. They were kids, they didn’t know what they were doing. And that was the reason Oikawa wanted to finish this conference as quickly as possible, so he could leave with his son and make sure he didn’t get sick.

“Overall, his behavior isn’t anything to worry about. Besides that incident with the other kid, everything’s okay.” The man smiled and nodded. “However, I must tell you that Shōyō-kun is having trouble at keeping up with his classmates when it comes to school work. His grades are getting worse and I don’t really know how to help him, because I’ve done all I could. At his age it’s normal to have an attention deficit or just not being interested in what we are talking about in class, but he should still do his homework. He may have some problems and might need a psychologist, for all we know. It’s normal, don’t worry, but we should hurry and try to understand what is going on with him and why he’s having such bad grades. He’s falling behind.”

Oikawa wasn’t expecting that. It was true that lately the kid never asked for his help with homework, but he had thought that he was able to do it alone, not that he had given up.

“I’ll talk to him first and then I’ll decide what to do,” He informed. “Thank you for telling me.”

After saying goodbye, he jogged towards the entrance of the school. He realized it was still raining and cursed himself for leaving the umbrella in the car. Then he ran to the school’s playground, where he found Shōyō playing alone while we waited for his father.

As he ran towards his son, Oikawa yelled, “Shō-chan, come here!”

The kid did as he was told, looking at his father with innocent eyes. The brunet took of his coat and gave it to his son. He knew the toddler was going to let the coat get wet, but his health was more important than a simple piece of cloth.

“Let’s run to the car.”

After they had entered the car, which was now getting quite wet thanks to them, Oikawa told his son to take off his jacket so it wouldn’t dry on his body. Then the man took off his button-up shirt, thanking himself for having put on a simple white shirt underneath.

“We have to talk,” He said, turning around so he could face his son. “First of all, you’re old enough to know that you can’t play in the rain.”

“But it’s fun!” Shōyō threw his hands in the air.

“I don’t care.” Oikawa hushed him. “You’ll probably catch a cold. If it’s raining, you have to protect yourself and make sure you don’t get wet, understand me?”

“Yes, daddy.”

“Good.”

Neither of them said anything after that. All that could be heard was cars passing by, splashing water, people running from the rain and the rain hitting the car ceiling. It was actually relaxing and Oikawa wished he could stay inside the car forever.

During that moment of silence, the man kept thinking about how he could approach his son about his grades. It was the first time it happened and he didn’t know how to talk about it for he didn’t want his son to feel like he was stupid.

Meanwhile, the kid just looked outside the window, giggling when he saw some people slipping in the puddles.

“Shō-chan, can you tell me why your grades have been getting worse?” Oikawa inquired in a careful and quiet voice.

The kid glanced at his father and tilted his head to the side, shrugging. “I think I don’t like school.”

“Why not?” That was serious because if he didn’t like it in elementary school, he would only have more troubles later on.

“Because it’s boring.” He rolled his eyes, moving his hands around as he spoke. “The teacher says things I don’t understand and we always have to work. She even tells us to do work at home! The only thing I like at school is when I play baseball. And when I play with my friends in the playground.”

“But you need school, slugger. I can help you with the homework, if you want, and we can even make it fun! You need to learn what the teacher is, well, teaching so that one day you can make money,” The dad explained.

“But I don’t want to have money.”

“Everyone needs money.”

“The teacher says that money is not everything, so I don’t need money.”

He was happy that his son was picking up something that the teacher said, but he still wasn’t happy with the fact that the ginger didn’t make an effort and wasn’t planning on doing so.

Suddenly, an idea came to his mind. “You know, if you don’t study and try hard, you will fail and then you’ll have to repeat the year. Do you want that?”

Furrowing his eyebrows, he shook his head and said, “No.”

“And you won’t be in the same class as your friends anymore, did you know that?”

“No, I didn’t.” The kid looked scared, so it meant his little idea was working.

“Then how about we start trying to get good grades, huh?” Oikawa smiled, amused and pleased with what was happening. “During class, you will do everything the teacher says and at home, I will help you. How about that?”

“Okay.” Shōyō nodded, not really happy with his defeat.

“Don’t make that face.” The brunet grabbed his son’s cheeks and caressed them. “I’m sure you’re going to start liking school.”

He then turned around, putting on his seat belt and asking his son to do the same. As he drove, he thought about how he would manage to do his work and help his son doing his homework at the same time.


	8. Chapter 7

Oikawa woke up in the middle of night hearing sneezes and coughs coming from Shōyō’s bedroom. Being quite a healthy boy, the kid rarely coughed, so the man started to get worried.

As the coughs started to get rougher and the regular sneezes started to be followed by sniffs, the brunet got up from his bed and put his morning robe and his slippers on. He walked quietly to where the sounds were coming from.

In his own bed laid Shōyō, who was moving around in his sleep. Even in the dark, Oikawa could realize that his son was uncomfortable for the constants sniffs he heard. The man couldn’t help but roll his eyes slightly. The toddler was probably like that because he had been playing in the rain the day before.

Knowing that his son was the most important person in the world to him, Oikawa covered his kid again, tugging him so the blanket wouldn’t fall off his tiny body. He checked Shōyō’s temperature, placing his hand on top of the kid’s forehead and realizing that it was normal and that he was okay. Then, he put a large pillow that was in his son’s bedroom under the top of the mattress, so that his head would be higher than the rest of the body and he could breathe easier.

That was all he could do for he wasn’t going to wake Shōyō up just to give him some medicine. He wished he could do something more to stop his son from coughing, but, in that moment, all that he could do was make sure, that the kid wasn’t cold.

It was four in the morning. However, the father couldn’t waste the opportunity and just stayed crouched down next to his son’s bed for a few minutes. Since his eyes were adjusted to the darkness already, he spent those minutes observing his son breathing through his mouth and snoring loudly. His eyebrows were furrowed and his nose scrunched up, showing just how unbearable his situation was.

The man placed his finger between the child’s eyebrows, pressing down gently and making the furrow disappear. He then held his hand, fawning over how cute and small the toddler’s hands were in comparison to his large ones. His nose was slightly turned up, making him look even more adorable. And his lips were pursed, which was just enchanting.

His son was the definition of beautiful and Oikawa couldn’t have asked for a better present.

-:-:-

After receiving a call from Shōyō’s school, Oikawa sighed loudly and rubbed his face with his hands. In the morning, he had hoped that his son wasn’t really sick and could still go to school. But there he was, receiving a call to pick up his son from school because he had a fever. Life just wasn’t going his way.

The man grabbed his car keys and his coat and got out of his office, closing the door behind him. Being an astrophysicist at university for at least five years, Oikawa had his own office, which he didn’t have to share with other people. It wasn’t anything big, just a normal sized office where he could have his large wooden desk, a black sofa and a metal office cabinet. The office had a large window on one side, allowing the light to enter the room and make everything look brighter. His desk was a dark brown and had a computer placed on top of it, as well as hundred paper sheets that Oikawa still hadn’t thrown away. It also had a photo of his son and other personal stuff, but most of it were just papers. The metal office cabinet was full of dossiers with important information about his works. And the sofa was there so he could get up from his stiff chair, walk over to the sofa, and rest his back and bottom for a while.

The reason he didn’t share his office was because most scientists liked to be alone and study their fields on their own, unless it was for a group work. When he needed, the man could use the laboratories. And there were times when he worked with other people as a team, especially when they were all studying the same thing and could use some help to speed up the process.

For example, there was a time Oikawa’s team had had a project to build a compound telescope. It was a request from another country and they took around two months just to be able to do the correct calculations. Then it took six more months to build everything with the help of some engineers from the same university. No one could have work on this project alone to be able to finish it in under a year. That was the main reason people teamed up to do it in a group.

Although that sometimes happened, this time Oikawa was working alone. He was studying the wormholes theory, for the nth time, because he wanted to prove their existence. He anticipated that it was going to be some really hard work, but it was one of his dreams since he heard that theory.

That day, he had to stop his studies to pick up his son. He didn’t have a deadline to prove the wormholes theory, but when he proposed his goal to the university, they said that it was hard to find proof and that they had had some other people try and fail. Therefore, they said that, if he didn’t made any progress in a year, he would have to change his goal.

For that reason, the brunet was kind of mad as he walked to his car. He was losing time and no one would give it back to him.

“Why now, Shō-chan? Why now?” He muttered to himself as he entered the car and started the engine.

Not wanting to waste any more time, the father drove as quickly as he could without breaking any law since he didn’t want a traffic ticket. In less than ten minutes, he arrived at the school.

He got out of the car and talked to the principal that was waiting for him at the entrance of the school and said he would guide him to where his son was waiting. He made his way to the infirmary, where Shōyō had been laid down on one of the beds covered with a blanket and with a wet towel on his forehead.

“Good afternoon,” The nurse said, bowing his head.

Oikawa mimicked him and crouched down next to his son. “Hello, Shō-chan.”

Feeling his father’s hand caressing his cheek, the boy opened his eyes slowly. “Hello, daddy.”

“How are you feeling?” The brunet talked in a very soft and low voice so the kid wouldn’t have a headache.

“My throat hurts. And my head too. And my belly too,” He answered, leaning his head into Oikawa’s hand. “And I’m hot but the nurse says I have to be covered up.”

“He has a fever,” Explained the nurse, making the man look at him. “He came here after telling the teacher his head and throat hurt. I told him to lay down and close his eyes, because he needs to rest as much as he can. And I tried to give him something warm to eat, but he said that his throat hurt too much and his stomach hurt too. So I just gave him some hot tea.”

“Thank you very much.” The father bowed his head, genuinely grateful for the man’s actions.

“It’s nothing, really.” The nurse smiled. “But I suggest that you take him to the hospital because I don’t think he’ll be able to come to school tomorrow. He should really rest.”

Oikawa nodded. He knew he had to take his son to work with him so he thanked god that he had a small couch in his office. Nevertheless his office was no place for a sick kid to rest. And the brunet had to work so he wouldn’t be able pay as much attention as he should to his son. The only thing he could do was give him something warm to eat and drink, place some cold and wet towels on his forehead (which he still had to search for) and make sure he wasn’t cold. He knew that he would have to spend the next day with Shōyō at home.

As he picked his son up into his arms and the kid cuddle close to his body, the man sighed and thanked the other adults that were in the room. It was going to be another chaotic day but this time he really needed to pay attention to his son, for he was his priority.


	9. Chapter 8

Taking the day off was something really needed. It was essential that Oikawa stayed with his kid during the whole day so they could go to the hospital, which took normally more than two hours. That being said, at the end of the previous day, the man had gone talk to his supervisor, who gave him the day off and wished Shōyō a quick recovery.

The next day, since he didn’t have to go to work, the brunet had turned the alarm off, hoping to be able to sleep as much as he wanted to. And he did, only waking up at ten a.m., which he could never do on any other working day.

When he woke up after four more hours of sleep than he was used to, Oikawa felt some weight on top of him. As he opened he eyes, he realized that his son was sleeping on top of him. It reminded him of when Shōyō had just been two years old and started to sleep alone in his own bedroom. At the beginning, he would always get up in the middle of the night and go to his parent’s room. Then he would lay down between his parents or on top of one of them. But as time passed by, the kid got used to sleeping alone and slowly became able do it every day. So it was good to wake up with his son right on top of him, since it hadn’t happen in quite a long time.

Oikawa had to get up to have breakfast and prepare dinner, as well as start to get a little bit of his work done. Even when he took the day off, the man still worked. It was his obligation to finish his work and he knew that he wasn’t the only Japanese person doing that, so it was okay.

Feeling the bed move, the toddler opened his eyes slightly, still tired. He felt drool dripping from his mouth from sleeping with his mouth open and tried to wipe it off, but some of it was already dry. One of his nostrils was completely clogged thanks to his stuffy nose and his throat was dry.

“Daddy,” He mumbled as loud as he could so the father would hear him.

The brunet turned around with his eyebrows raised and looked at his son, seeing him with his eyes open and wondering if it was him who woke him up. “Go back to sleep, buddy.”

“I want water.”

When the man realized his voice was hoarse, he got out of the bedroom and went to the kitchen to grab a water bottle. Then he went back and gave it to his son, who drank half of the water in only a few big gulps.  
“Blow your nose.” Oikawa handed his son a tissue that was on the bedside table.

The kid did as he was told, finding it pretty hard to unclog the left nostril. Shōyō tried as hard as he could, but the left nostril was still clogged, so he gave up, laying down again.

Oikawa tugged him in and whispered, “I’ll come back with some tea for you to drink, okay?”

The kid didn’t answer, but the man knew that it was just because he was sick. He gave Shōyō a long kiss on his cheek and made sure that the ginger was comfortable before leaving the room.

Around ten minutes later, the man came back, checking to see if his son was already asleep or not and holding a cup of tea in one hand and a wet towel in the other. Shōyō was playing with his fingers while trying to fall asleep again, so the father took the chance to take care of him.

“Hey, Shō-chan, drink this.” Oikawa handed his son a cup of hot, green tea. The toddler sat up, leaning his back against the headboard and grabbing the cup. “Be careful, the tea is really hot.”

The ginger nodded, coughing before taking a sip of the tea. It was tasty and warm, so it felt good when it went down his throat. While he took small sips of the tea, the man placed the wet towel on the kid’s forehead, who shivered when feeling some of the water dripping down his face. He then pulled the covers up, making sure his son was warm and didn’t catch any cold wind that could pass by (even though the windows were all closed).

“How are you feeling?” Oikawa asked, as soon as the toddler finished his hot beverage.

“I’m a little bit hungry.” Shōyō pouted and the man was glad that he didn’t have a headache or something like that.

He smiled and ran his hand through the kid’s hair gently. “Okay. I’ll start making lunch now, then.”

“Can we eat okayu?” He asked, showing his puppy eyes.

Glad that his son proposed a dish that was actually really common to eat when you have a cold, Oikawa nodded, giving him one more kiss on the cheek. “Of course. I’ll prepare some side dishes too.”

The ginger smiled a little bit, coughing right away. It was painful to see his son in such a state and not be able to do anything special to stop it.

-:-:-

They had lunch and then went to the hospital. There, the doctor told them that it was simply a cold and that the toddler could still go to school, as long as he wore a mask. She said that she would prescript some medicine but the most the father should do was just give him warm drinks and meals, making sure his fever was going down and that the kid was warm and comfy. Overall, Oikawa just had to look over his son.  
The man was really relieved when he heard this from the doctor. Firstly because he didn’t know if it was just a cold or something more. Secondly because Shōyō could still go to school, so he wouldn’t need to miss work or ask his parents to take care of his son.

It was easy to tell that Shōyō was sick for when he got home from the trip to the hospital, he didn’t skip to his bedroom to start playing with his toys. The kid just walked slowly, almost dragging his feet, with his head held low. He had a scarf around his neck and a very warm jacket on. He didn’t look nearly as cheerful and full of energy as he usually did.

“Are you tired?” Oikawa asked, closing the door and taking off his shoes and coat.

“Hum uh,” He hummed, taking off his jacket and scarf and laying down on the sofa.

“If you want to, you can sleep for a few hours. You need to rest.” The man went to his bedroom to grab his briefcase and start working.

“I don’t want to, I want to stay with daddy.” Shōyō was having trouble keeping his eyes open, so he just closed them.

“But you look like you want to sleep.” Oikawa rolled his eyes and covered his son with blanket. “Take a nap.”

And he did, falling asleep in just five to ten minutes. To the father, it was good that the kid was asleep for now, so he could do all of his work without being interrupted. The brunet opened his briefcase and took some paper sheets out, placing them on top of the coffee table. He was able to concentrate on his work quickly, which was a blessing because there were times when he didn’t seem to be able to concentrate on what he was doing.

That day, he was simply studying previous studies made about the wormhole theory. It wasn’t anything difficult: he had to read with a lot of attention and write down what he thought that would be useful, as well as mark the pages that he thought he’d need to check again.

When he was almost finished for the day, he heard the doorbell ring. Not only did he stop concentrating but his son woke up, looking at his father with a sleepy face.

“Don’t worry, keep sleeping.” He patted Shōyō’s head and got up from the couch, walking to the door.

The person on the other side knocked on the door and Oikawa breathed in deeply. It was starting to annoy him. However, he still opened the door, seeing three of his friends with wide smiles plastered on their faces.

“Hello, hello!” Matsukawa shouted, entering the house without permission.

At the same time, Hanamaki entered the house as well and said, “I’m coming in.”

And Iwaizumi just stood there, shaking his head as he asked the heavens why the hell were his friends like that. “I’m sorry, Oikawa.”

But the man didn’t even hear him for he was too occupied with whisper shouting, “Be quiet, guys! Shōyō’s sleeping!”

While both Iwaizumi and Hanamaki widened their eyes, regretting their behaviors, Matsukawa shrugged and pointed to the living room door. “Well, not anymore.”

As all of the friends got in the living room, they confirmed what the messy haired had said. The ginger was now sitting up, rubbing his eyes as he yawned. He looked pretty confused and exhausted.

“Just go back to sleep.” The father said, not wanting his son to not rest because of his reckless and idiotic friends.

However, the kid seemed fine as he grinned and whispered as loud as he could so his throat wouldn’t hurt, “Iwa-chan. Makki-chan. Mattsun.”

“Yep, it’s us,” The pink-brown-haired male confirmed, nodding.

Hanamaki sat down besides the kid and ruffled his hair. “Do you feel better?”

Shōyō kept grinning. “A little bit. Daddy took care of me, so my head doesn’t hurt anymore.”

“And your throat? How is it?” Matsukawa joined the conversation, sitting beside them.

“It still hurts. But the doctor said I could still go to school,” He answered, pulling the blanket closer to him since he was starting to get a little cold.

Oikawa decided to join the conversation too while he started to pick up his papers and put them in his briefcase again, “But she said that you need to wear a mask, remember that.”

“I know.”

Shōyō kept chatting with the adults, who knew exactly how to deal with kids. Every time he saw his father’s friends, the child got really excited because, in a way, he considered them his friends as well. They never got mad at him and always let him do whatever he wanted. They talked with him like he was one of them and played with him, which is basically what every kid wants.

The brunet liked to see them interact. He loved the fact that his friends had always been there to support and help him, especially during the divorce. There were many times when Shōyō spent his afternoon at one of Oikawa’s friends’ houses, because both him and Yoshida where taking care of papers and the rest of the family was helping them or just not able to take care of a child. The three of them always played with the ginger when they were all together, and it was a beautiful sight to see. Shōyō always laughed loudly when he was with them.

After putting his briefcase back in his bedroom, Oikawa came back to the living room to see the other three adults listening to Shōyō’s stories.

“Oi, everyone,” He called them. “I’m going to prepare dinner and I need help.”

“Daddy, can they have dinner with us?”

“Yes, can we have dinner with you?” Matsukawa pouted, pretending to be an innocent little child.

“Don’t you have wives waiting for you at home? I mean, except Iwa-chan.”

“Shut up, Trashykawa!” Iwaizumi shot death glares at his best friend.

He widened his eyes and complained, “Hey, my son’s here with us! Don’t insult me!”

“Actually, my wife is having dinner with her college friends today. And my kid is at her cousin’s house,” Explained Hanamaki.

“And my wife doesn’t mind not making dinner for me, I just have to call her to give her heads up,” Matsukawa said with a smug look on his face.

“Please, daddy.”

“Ugh, fine!” Oikawa gave in, rolling his eyes. “But you guys have to help me.”

“I guess I can help,” The pink-brown-haired volunteered, getting up from the couch and walking to the kitchen with Oikawa.

“Thanks,” The brunet said.

As they prepared dinner, cutting the food, they chatted about trivial things. They hadn’t seen each other in more than a month, so they had a lot to talk about. But soon the topic changed to something Oikawa was done listening too.

“You know, I don’t think that getting a girlfriend would do you any harm.”

He was just so done with people telling him that. He knew that he was too tired and that he had to run from one place to the other. He knew that he didn’t pay enough attention to his son and that he was too stressed out. Nevertheless, there was nothing he could do to stop all of that.

“I know,” He said, not wanting to say anything because he knew that it was possible that he would get mad. And he didn’t want that.

“And I know that you’re probably tired of hearing people tell you that, but it’s true.” Hanamaki placed his knife down and stared at his friend as he talked. “Just look at you, man! You’re so different, and not in a good way.”

“I know that, too.”

“I don’t want to bug you or anything but everything would be easier if you had someone with you. Someone who would pick Shōyō from school while you’re at work; who would watch over him when you can’t; who would make dinner while you play with your kid. You’re wasting all of Shōyō’s childhood with being too busy to even pay him attention. Soon, Shōyō will be an adult and you’ll look back and ask yourself what you did to enjoy your time while he was still a kid. Believe me, he will start to realize the huge difference that there is between having a father there and not having his father with him. He might even become mad at you because of how you’re neglecting him. You’re rarely there for him, but you should be.”


	10. Chapter 9

“You’re late! Again!” Shōyō crossed his arms over his chest angrily and pouted.

Oikawa ruffled his son’s hair, trying to lighten up the mood. “I know, slugger, and I’m so sorry.”

The truth is, his ‘sorry’ wasn’t really honest. The man had gotten used to saying ‘sorry’ without even thinking about why he was saying it. It became a habit and it was hard to break. However, that didn’t mean that he didn’t care for his son, it was just that he was done with saying it so many times.

As the ginger sulked and the father sighed because he definitely didn’t have time to deal with that, a young-looking woman approached them, holding a child’s hand. She was gorgeous, having long black hair, narrow grey eyes and a curvy figure, which was quite uncommon in Japan and felt really foreign.

“Hello.” She waved her hand in front of Oikawa’s face, catching his attention.

“Oh, hello,” He said, surprised.

The woman giggled at his surprise and introduced herself, “My name is Kimura Mieko. And you must be Oikawa Tōru.”

“Yes, that’s me.” His confused face seemed to be quite entertaining to the woman and it was annoying the man.

“This is my son, Kimura Izumi. He’s a friend of your son.” She was, in fact, really similar to the kid next to her.

As Oikawa started to think about his chats with his son, he remembered something about a boy named Izumi. He then widened his eyes, apologizing for not knowing.

“Oh, not. It’s okay,” Kimura said. “I just wanted to talk with you because my son said the other day that he would like to play with Shōyō-kun on a weekend and your son apparently says so too.”

“Do you?” The father glanced at his son, who nodded, now grinning excitedly. “Then I guess all we have to do is to decide when and where.”

“Can we play tomorrow?” The dark-haired kid asked, looking at his mother with puppy eyes.

“No, Izu-kun, not tomorrow. Tomorrow you have school.”

“Then the day after tomorrow?” Shōyō tried his luck, giving his father the same puppy eyes as his friend.

“You can’t, you’re going to mommy’s house.” Oikawa looked at the mother and her son and explained, “We’re divorced and he goes to her house on weekends.”

“Oh, then I’m afraid they won’t be able to have a playdate.” The woman smiled apologetically at her son, ruffling his hair. “It’s just that I live with my mother and we don’t like to disturb her. I’m sorry, Shōyō-kun and Izu-kun. But you can still play together at school!”

Despite Kimura’s tries to lighten up the mood, the two children still seemed to be down. It was clear that they wanted to play together outside of school and to spend a whole day having fun with each other, but sometimes things just don’t go out way.

But Oikawa thought about what Hanamaki had said and started to think of a solution for their problem. His friend had said that Shōyō would start to realize that his father didn’t pay him much attention, and the brunet didn’t want that to happen. He wanted to be his son’s idol. Therefore, he should do everything he could to bring happiness to his small ball of sunshine.

“You know, I guess I could talk with my ex-wife.” As the man said that, Shōyō and Izumi stared at him with wide eyes. “I think mommy wouldn’t mind that you’d spend a weekend with me. And then Izumi-kun could come to our house and play.”

“Yes! Thanks, daddy!” The ginger hugged his father, making the older male chuckle a little as his heart fluttered from his son’s adorableness.

“Can I go, mom? Please!” The dark-haired kid pleaded with puppy eyes which no one could resist to.

She grinned, happy to please her child. “It’s fine by me.”

After exchanging contacts so they could talk to each other and arrange the play date, the two adults said goodbye and wished each other a good day. They kids waved at each other with big smiles and loud giggles.

Oikawa felt great for being able to make his son smile, but that soon was over when they got to a convenience store to buy pre-cooked food.

“Daddy.” Shōyō tugged at his dad’s coat, pouting. “I don’t want this food.”

“Why? Don’t you like it?” The man tilted his head to the side, confused. “Just the other day you said you liked it.”

“I don’t want any more of this food. I want to eat food you cook.”

He groaned. It was true that lately they ate a lot of convenience store food and it wasn’t healthy, nevertheless he didn’t have time to spend cooking when he could be giving his son a bath or preparing his backpack for the next day.

“I’m sorry, buddy. But daddy doesn’t have a lot of time and you know that.”

As Oikawa leaned to hug Shōyō, the child ran in the opposite direction. The man could no longer see where his son was, but he wasn’t worried because he couldn’t have gone far.

“Shō-chan, come on.” He said while walking in the direction he had run to. “We have to go home, okay.”

As soon as he peeked to the other row of the store, he became preoccupied. The ginger was nowhere to be seen.

“Hey, Shōyō!”

He took larger steps so he could search for his son quicker. His heart was beating at a crazy speed, threatening to jump out of his chest. He could feel drops of sweat running down his face and his eyes wetting for his view was getting fogged up. His stomach was suddenly cold and he could sense something was wrong.

“Shōyō!” The burnet shouted, not caring for the other people who were at the store.

Since he had checked the whole store and didn’t find his son, Oikawa ran outside, looking around with his widened eyes. Fortunately, he spotted the kid leaning against a wall while hugging his knees to his chest.  
He sighed, relieved. It was like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders.

“Shō-chan!” He called him as he ran towards him. “Never do this again!”

The little boy looked up at him with small tears in his eyes. But the man was too angry too care.

“You scared me! You can’t just disappear like that!” The man sighed once again and sat down beside his son. Then he placed an arm over his son’s shoulders and hugged him against his own body, whispering, “Don’t do that ever again.”

“I’m sorry.” Shōyō sobbed and the dad could feel his heart being stabbed a million times. “I just want to eat daddy’s food every day.”

Oikawa felt disappointed in himself. He wasn’t able to satisfy his son and all because of his stupid work. All he wanted to do was spend his day playing with Shōyō and watch the little kid laugh. But he couldn’t and it was hurting him, as well as the most precious person in the world to him. He was so frustrated in that moment that all he could do was cry silently as he hugged his son tightly. Plus, his heart was still beating at a crazy speed, for he couldn’t forget the fear he felt when he didn’t see his son at the store.

“I’m so sorry, buddy. I really am.”

He was, but there was nothing he could do.


End file.
